Shattered Glass and Six Months
by ThingsHopedFor
Summary: "Is that all I am to you? The long con?" "You're not the long con. You're the reason I'm still alive." Luke/Ethan; part of the Shattered Glass AU series; sequel to Shattered Glass and Rum Romance


**AN: Hello! This is part of my Shattered Glass AU series, so it'll take a minute to lay down the correct order. Okay, so, this is a companion piece to Bright Eyes, and a sequel to Rum Romance. It's (kind of) a prequel to Midnight Kisses, which is a sequel to both Bright Eyes and Rum Romance, and Bright Eyes is also a sequel to Rum Romance. **

**I think that's how it goes?**

**Warnings: Well, language and slash, as per usual. Mentions of sex.**

**Disclaimer: Characters belong to Rick Riordan, plot belongs to me.**

_**Onwards and Enjoy!**_

**~THF**

* * *

Ethan wakes up in an unfamiliar room. Sunlight filters in through the windows, bright and obnoxious, and Ethan runs his hand over his face. His head throbs painfully, so he's definitely hungover, and while his memory is fractured, he can still remember whiskey shots, heated skin, and a thick white scar.

The motel room door clicks open, and Ethan pushes himself up onto his elbows, letting the sheets pool around his waist. The man who's just walked into the room is carrying two Starbucks coffees and one of the Starbucks carry-out bags, and he's tall, taller than Ethan, and maybe in his mid-twenties. He has short, spiky blond hair, icy blue eyes, and a scar on this cheek that Ethan distinctly remembers pressing heated kisses to last night.

Ethan raises his eyebrows. "Damn."

The blond man shoves the door shut with his foot and tosses the Starbucks bag at Ethan, walking around the bed to hand Ethan a paper coffee mug.

"What?" he asks, settling back onto the bed. Ethan looks him up and down.

"You brought back coffee?" He swigs the coffee, and yes, it is the best damn morning-after coffee he's ever had. Probably because no one has ever brought him Starbucks after a one night stand before.

"I always pick up coffee the morning after," the blond says, arching an eyebrow. "It's polite."

Ethan smirks ruefully. "Yeah? Tell that to the last fifty guys."

The blond smiles, but it seems forced. "You have a lot of drunken one night stands?"

"Ah, no." Ethan shakes his head. "I wasn't even drunk last night. I hate getting drunk."

The blond nods, swigs his coffee, and stares out the window.

"I don't really remember your name," Ethan admits, watching the blond carefully. He places the coffee on the bedside table and climbs out of bed, picking his boxers up off of the floor and shimmying into them, then reaching for his jeans and feeling to make sure that his wallet is still in them.

"Luke," says the blond. "Luke Castellan."

Ethan flashes Luke a smile, stumbling into his jeans. He buttons his pants and pulls his shirt over his head, toeing on his sneakers and not bothering to find his socks. He picks up the Starbucks bag and the paper coffee cup, tipping the cup in Luke's direction as he walks towards the door.

"Well, it was nice to meet you, Luke," he says, and clicks the door shut behind him.

It's probably rude to leave after Luke brought him coffee, but Ethan can't bring himself to care. He didn't ask for Luke to bring him coffee and whatever the hell is in the Starbucks bag. It's not his problem.

* * *

"Somebody got laid."

Ethan rolls his eyes. "Deduce that one all by yourself, eh, Holmes?"

Travis doesn't look up from the TV, where he's playing Halo with his younger brother. "Was he any good?"

Ethan rolls his eyes, tossing the white paper Starbucks bag at Travis. "He brought me cake balls this morning."

Connor pauses the game to smirk at Ethan. "After sucking _your _balls all night? Cute."

Ethan flips Connor off, sliding out of his sneakers and dropping onto the couch with them.

"He was cute, though," Ethan mutters. "And a good fuck."

"You going to see him again?" Travis asks, smirking. "Get some more cake balls?"

Connor giggles, and Ethan groans. "You're both children."

"Well, someone has to keep you from being so brooding and foreboding all the time," Connor says lightly. Then, with a more serious tone; "Are you going to see him again, though?"

Ethan shakes his head. "It was just a one night stand."

"That's what you said about Alabaster," Travis mutters, starting the game again. Ethan stills, and Travis and Connor freeze.

"Oh, shit, Ethan," Travis begins.

"He didn't mean it like that," Connor adds hurriedly.

Ethan stands abruptly. "I have to go get ready for class."

As he walks out of the room, he can hear one of the brothers hissing, "Shit, we fucked up."

* * *

Ethan beats his fingers against the counter, sighing and watching Silena attempt to ward off advances from a customer. He would step in, but he knows how much Silena hates it when anyone tries to help her, so he stands slumped over the counter.

"Just wait until her baby bump starts showing," Chris says, smirking. "No one will even bother making advances."

"Beckendorf will be thrilled," Ethan agrees. He straightens up as the café door swings open, and Chris' long-time girlfriend, Clarisse, stalks in. She's obviously pissed, and Ethan starts making her hot coco while Chris mentally prepares himself for whatever Clarisse has to rant about now.

"Here," Ethan says, shoving the drink into Clarisse's hands before she even opens her mouth to speak. "Drink this before you start."

Clarisse starts to object, her eyebrows furrowing deeper, but then she grunts and swigs the hot chocolate, anyways.

"What's up?" Chris asks, leaning over the counter to give Clarisse a quick kiss on the cheek. She wrinkles her nose, and Ethan can't help but notice how red she is in the face.

"It's fucking Drew Tanaka," Clarisse growls. "She can't keep her fucking music down. All night long, I've been listening to fucking auto-tuned trash about the glory of doing drugs and having sex."

"Well," Chris tries, putting on a charming smile, "sex _is _pretty good."

Clarisse narrows her eyes threateningly, and Chris raises his hands in surrender.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" Silena asks, approaching and wrapping her arm around Clarisse's waist. Clarisse deflates in an instant, dropping her head onto Silena's shoulder. Ethan can't fathom how, exactly, but Silena has always been the only one able to calm down Clarisse.

"Not really," Clarisse mumbles. "I barely slept last night, and I got in a fight with Tanaka today. It was really bad. The new guy who moved in down the hall had to intervene."

"Did you hit her?" Chris asks lowly. Clarisse shakes her head, grimacing.

"Nah. She slapped me, though. That's when the new guy intervened." She clenches her jaw and runs her fingers through her hair. "He took me back to our apartment, talked me down from murdering Drew in her sleep, and then drove me here."

Chris sighs, running his hand over his face. "This is why we need a car. So you can get the hell out of the apartment whenever Drew starts pissing you off, instead of getting into heated arguments with her."

Ethan turns away from the bickering couple as the bell over the café door swings open. Kronos' Café is usually pretty slow, but today it's been even lazier than usual. Ethan can count on one hand the amount of customers who have come in since the café opened two hours ago.

Ethan almost chokes when the guy walks in.

"Oh, motherfucking _shit_," he hisses, but the guy hasn't noticed him yet. There's still a chance he can get into the back before—no. Shit. It's too late. The guy has seen him.

"Hey," the guy says, looking at Ethan but directing his words towards Clarisse. He holds up a black leather wrist cuff that Ethan recognizes instantly as Clarisse's. "You left this in my car."

"Oh." Clarisse frowns, taking it from the man. "I don't know how it fell off. It was latched pretty tightly." She shakes her head, looking puzzled, and points at Chris. "This is my boyfriend, Chris Rodriguez. Chris, this is our new neighbor, Luke Castellan."

Chris and Luke shake hands, and Clarisse introduces Silena, and then Ethan. When she gets to Ethan, Luke smirks.

"We've already met," he says, leaning against the counter.

Silena arches an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"One night stand," Ethan says shortly, glancing towards the ceiling in hopes that he'll be miraculously struck dead rather than have to face a one night stand while depressingly sober. Ethan really doesn't drink very much, but seeing someone he slept with two days ago is definitely drink-worthy.

"_Oh_." Silena says again, but her tone is instantly different—more playful—and when Ethan looks at her, she's staring at Luke, eyes bright with mischief. "So _you're _Ethan's type! We haven't met anyone Ethan's slept with since—"

"Don't even fucking go there," Ethan interrupts with an icy glare, and Silena pauses, reconsiders what she was about to say, and winces.

"It was just a one night stand," Luke says, raising an eyebrow, offering Ethan a smile that clearly reads _Your friends are kind of idiots_.

"Granted," Ethan mutters, "you _did_ bring me coffee the next morning. Which was sweet, by the way. Thanks."

Luke shrugs. "Like I said, it's polite."

Silena rolls her eyes. "Are you really just going to stand there and pretend the sexual tension isn't rolling off of your bodies in waves toward one anothers'? _Puh_-lease."

Ethan raises an eyebrow. "You've been with the same guy for like, eight years. You don't know what sexual tension _is_."

But Luke is laughing, and Ethan wouldn't _mind _if Luke wanted to go out. Like he told the Stolls, Luke really is cute. Ethan just doesn't want a repeat of Alabaster.

"I don't know," Luke says, looking Ethan over—checking him out. "Can you handle a sober relationship?"

And it's probably just a joking question, but Ethan swears there's a flash in Luke's eyes when he asks it—something dark and haunted, something broken. Something that wouldn't be able to handle a drunken relationship.

And Ethan doesn't want a repeat of Alabaster, but he thinks he might really enjoy Luke. So he nods and grins. "I wouldn't be able to handle a drunken one."

* * *

In June, after Luke and Ethan have been dating for two months, Ethan finally asks what Luke does for a living.

Without missing a beat, Luke says, "I'm a con artist."

"Con artist?" Ethan repeats, and Luke smiles at him.

"I con people out of cash."

It shouldn't be enticing, and Ethan should call the cops, but it is, and Ethan doesn't. Instead, he makes Luke tell him all about his current con—the long con, Luke calls it. It's why Luke is in town, conning some rich businessman out of his cash.

When Luke asks if it bothers Ethan, Luke being a criminal, Ethan promises that it doesn't, as long as Luke doesn't get caught.

* * *

By August, Ethan thinks he could get used to mornings-after with Luke. Luke always gets coffee and donuts, and they go another round if Ethan doesn't have to work.

But today, as Luke is reaching over Ethan to get a condom from the bedside table, Ethan can't stop himself from blurting out, "I'm clean, you know. I've checked."

Luke pauses, hovering over Ethan, and looks down at his boyfriend. Quirks his brow. Asks, "Sorry, what?"

Ethan grunts. "You always wear a condom. I'm clean, if that's why. I don't have HIV."

Luke pushes off of Ethan, sitting back on his haunches in the bed. "Yeah, well," he mutters, "I do."

And those two little words change everything, but Ethan doesn't know that yet.

Two weeks later, Luke is sick, and Ethan sits beside him on the floor of the bathroom in Luke's apartment as Luke throws up their dinner.

"Luke," Ethan says quietly, "are you taking any treatment?"

And when Luke shakes his head, Ethan feels his stomach clench. "Why not?"

"I haven't got the money," Luke states, all bare bones and dry fact. "That's why I'm in town, running a long con. Except it's not going fast enough. The doctor gave me six months back in May. It's August, I have two months left, and I still can't buy the ten extra years that come with treatment."

Ethan feels like the air has been knocked out of him, and he can't get his next words out fast enough.

"Look, my mom and I, we don't really talk—haven't since she destroyed my eye—but I could get the money for the HAART treatment. She's a really well-off judge and she makes a lot of money. She can be cold sometimes, and we don't really get along, but she'd pay for the treatment if I asked."

And Luke turns his frosty eyes on Ethan and they take each other in, and with just one sharp, jerky nod from Luke, Ethan is already planning how to ask his mom, who he hasn't spoken to since he graduated from high school, to pay for the HAART treatment that gives patients with AIDS ten more years of life.

* * *

Luke gets sicker before he gets better, but by October—the month in which Luke was _supposed _to die—Luke is as healthy as he's ever been, and Ethan moves out of his apartment with the Stolls and into Luke's. The Stolls give him hell over it, teasing him mercilessly, but Ethan just ducks his head, grins, and hopes no one notices he's blushing.

This is the first solid relationship he's had since Alabaster—the first relationship that's lasted longer than two months, anyways—and Ethan is finally _happy_.

* * *

In December, Ethan walks into his and Luke's apartment and can physically _feel_ the change. The apartment seems colder, somehow, and for a moment, Ethan doesn't think Luke is there. But then he hears shuffling from down the hallway, and the feeling eases up a little bit.

When Ethan walks into their bedroom, he finds Luke pulling his clothes out of the closet and shoving them into a duffel bag. Ethan watches him, his brow wrinkled, trying to figure out what's happening.

"Luke?" he asks, frowning. "Luke, what are you doing?"

Because Ethan _knows _what's happening—he's been here with Alabaster, too—but he doesn't want to believe it.

Luke sighs, turning to face him. His face is cold, and Ethan can't breathe. He knows what comes next.

"I got what I came for," Luke says, his voice even and low, and oh-so-blunt, "and now I'm leaving."

And it's not word for word by any means, but for a moment, Ethan feels like he's watching Alabaster walk out again.

"What, exactly," Ethan tries, but his voice breaks and he has to start over. "What, exactly, _did _you come here for?"

Luke turns away again, shoving a pair of jeans into his bag. "The treatment," he says sharply, but he's moving through the bedroom again, gathering his things, and he avoids looking at Ethan. "I conned you into buying me the HAART treatment, and now that I'm healthy, I don't need you anymore."

Ethan takes it like a blow to his stomach, letting out a soft gasp and struggling for his next breath.

"You're the con, Ethan." Luke's voice is cold as he shoves a pair of jeans that Ethan always thought accentuated Luke's ass into his duffel. "You're the reason I was in town. You were the con. You were _always _the con."

And then Ethan is angry—more than angry, he's fucking _pissed_, because how dare Luke come into his life and demand Ethan make exceptions from his rules and then just pull some shit like this. How fucking dare Luke do this to him.

Ethan hasn't been this angry since the day he graduated high school, when, in a fit of rage, his mother flung a glass paper weight across the room and it shattered against the wall, glass flying into Ethan's eye, damaging his eyesight beyond repair.

"Is that all I am to you? The long con?" Ethan demands, his voice shaking from anger. He's pissed, but that doesn't change the way he feels about Luke. He's not sure anything can change how he feels about Luke.

"You're not the long con," Luke says with an exasperated sigh. He zips up his duffel, slings it over his shoulder, and turns to face Ethan. "You're the reason I'm still alive."

And Ethan can't think of a damn thing that he can do about it, and he can't think of any reasons why he should.

_All is fair in love and war_, he thinks grimly, and steps out of the doorway so Luke can leave the bedroom.

A moment later, he hears the front door close behind Luke, and he leans back against the wall, closing his eyes and trying to feel something other than hatred and despair.

Because seven and a half months ago, he'd risked everything on a thick white scar and morning-after coffee and a chance meeting in Kronos' Café.

Only that meeting wasn't chance at all, Ethan realizes. Luke put himself in Clarisse and Chris' apartment building because he knew that Ethan knew them, and Clarisse didn't just lose her bracelet in Luke's car. Luke had known everything about Ethan even before they met, and he'd known every way possible to get into Ethan's life.

Ethan was the con from the very beginning, and now Ethan's the idiot who didn't expect to be conned by a fucking con artist.

He leaves their—his, now—bedroom and pulls open the door of the liquor cabinet in the kitchen. And for the first time since Alabaster left almost three years ago, Ethan gets wasted.

* * *

In January, Ethan moves back in with the Stolls, because he can't stand being in the apartment he used to share with Luke.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" Silena keeps asking, always followed by Clarisse's gruff, "Do you want me to track him down and kick his ass?"

The answer is always the same—"No, it's okay. I'm fine."—and Silena and Clarisse always exchange looks, and Silena always kisses Ethan's cheeks and tells him to let her know if he needs anything, and Clarisse grunts, which is kind of the Clarisse equivalent of a hug.

The Stolls haven't mentioned Luke since Ethan gave a brief, blunt rundown of what happened. Travis had suggested that Ethan call the cops, followed by Connor's suggestion that they all go out and get smashed. Ethan doesn't except either offer, but he appreciates their sympathy.

Beckendorf actually _hugs _Ethan, which is really weird because Ethan has never been very close to Silena's husband, and Chris slaps him on the back and offers him a few kind, albeit pointless, words.

Eventually, they settle back into the routines they'd had before Luke came and fucked everything up. On Friday nights, Ethan goes out drinking, and he never gets drunk, but he always goes home with another man. He doesn't pick up the phone when his mother calls, and eventually, she just stops calling. Travis and Connor make the same stupid jokes they always have and avoid talking about Alabaster, but now they avoid talking about Luke, too. Clarisse and Chris get engaged, and Silena's baby bump starts showing.

And everything is fine, but Ethan still doesn't _feel _fine. He should be over Luke by now, but he's still hopelessly heartbroken over the con artist that rocked his world for just seven and a half months.

* * *

In February, Ethan is working a Valentine's Day shift at Kronos' Café when he catches sight of spiky blond hair, icy blue eyes, and a thick white scar walking through the front door.

He drops the mug of hot tea he was holding, causing it to shatter over the hideous tile flooring and spill its contents, spoiling his Vans and scalding his toes, but he doesn't notice it.

"Ethan!" the new employee, Lou Ellen, yelps, jumping away from the spread of tea. She gives her shift partner a concerned look. "Are you okay?"

Ethan can't make his mouth work, so he shrugs. The blond man is already at the counter, anyways.

"Hey," Luke says, tucking his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. It's too cold in Boston for such a light-weight jacket, but Ethan knows he's only noticing Luke's jacket to distract himself from Luke's presence.

"Hi," Ethan replies, his voice an octave higher than normal. Lou Ellen glances back and forth between the two boys, and puts a hand on Ethan's arm.

"You okay?" she asks softly, and Ethan shrugs.

"I'm fine," Ethan mutters, brushing her hand of his arm, not once looking away from Luke. He can feel that same anger from the night Luke left bubbling up in him—and hope, too, that Luke is back for good—and tries to clamp down both emotions. He settles for a passive, "What the hell are you doing here, Luke?"

Luke casts his eyes downwards guiltily. "Can we talk somewhere else?"

If Chris were here, he'd tell Luke to fuck off. Silena would slap Luke. Clarisse would beat him to the ground and demand how dare Luke want to talk after what he did. The Stolls would tell Luke that no, he can't talk to Ethan, so go away.

Despite all of that, Ethan finds himself murmuring, "Yeah," and lifts up the counter so Luke can walk underneath it.

"I'll be right back," Ethan tells Lou Ellen. "I'm going to get some paper towels for this mess." He gestures to the tea on the floor, but Lou Ellen shakes her head.

"I've got it," she says, reaching up to tug lightly at her lip ring. "You go take care of him." She points at Luke, then offers Ethan a supportive smile. They're not very close, and she doesn't know anything about Luke, but she's going to be one of Ethan's closest friends one day. Ethan can tell.

"Thanks." Ethan kisses her cheek, then makes his way into the back room, Luke trailing after him.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Ethan repeats, not looking at Luke over his shoulder as he pulls a roll of paper towels off of a shelf.

"I came to talk," Luke says, and Ethan toes off his Vans.

"Talk, then."

"Ethan." Luke sighs, and when Ethan looks at him, Luke is running a hand over his face. "I want to apologize."

Ethan listens as Luke talks about a boy named Nico and finding out he has HIV, and he listens as Luke explains that he'd hoped to con someone—Ethan—into buying him the HAART treatment and then getting back to Nico and praying that Nico didn't have AIDS, too.

"So why'd you come back?" Ethan asks, his voice taut.

Luke shrugs. "Because when I finally tracked Nico down, he was living in a new apartment with a new boyfriend. I didn't want to fuck things up for him." Luke pauses, then, studying Ethan.

"But I also came back," Luke continues, "because I realized I was in love with the poor bastard I conned into buying me ten more years."

* * *

Ethan makes Luke work for it.

He makes Luke pay back every single penny, and then he makes Luke wait. Until December, in fact.

When they finally fall into bed together again (making countless jokes about how they'd "gotten back together" on Valentine's Day), they're all hands and teeth and heated kisses. And Ethan remembers something he'd heard someone say, a very long time ago.

_Love is the biggest con of all._

Ethan grins and laughs into Luke's mouth, because Luke conned cash out of him, conned tens years of life out of the fates when he should have had just six months, and conned Ethan into loving him again.

Ethan doesn't care so much that he was conned anymore—if he did, he wouldn't be in bed with Luke right now.

Love might be a con, but the best cons are the ones you get away with. And Ethan and Luke definitely got away with this one.


End file.
